Donald Trump has blamed his country's record government shutdown for a swathe of bad election results this week that have come one year into his second term in the White House.
Speaking at a breakfast with senators from his governing Republican Party in Washington DC on Wednesday morning, local time, the US president bemoaned the political gridlock — now in its 36th day — that is affecting federal workers and critical services around the country.
The previous evening, Republicans were defeated in multiple elections held around the country, although none of them will affect the balance of power in the US capital.
In Mr Trump's native New York City, left-wing reformer Zohran Mamdani — who the president regularly targets for criticism — claimed a thumping victory in a contentious mayoral election.
Meanwhile, the states of New Jersey and Virginia both elected governors from the Democratic Party, which is the Republicans' main political rival.
Candidates Mikie Sherrill and Abigail Spanberger both performed better than expected to claim comfortable victories.
Mr Trump told senators on Wednesday he wanted to talk to them "about what last night represented, and what we should do about it".
"If you read the pollsters, the shutdown was a big negative factor for the Republicans," he said.
The president also mused that one of the reasons his party's candidates had performed poorly was because "I wasn't on the ballot".
Compounding issues for Mr Trump is the result of a special election in the country's most populous state, California, which has redrawn its electoral maps to give the Democrats, who dominate politics there, a greater advantage in the future.
The state's liberal governor, Gavin Newsom, has spent months winding Mr Trump up over the changes, saying his new "beautiful" maps are necessary to combat identical Republican tactics elsewhere.
US Vice-President JD Vance took to social media to say Republicans would be "idiotic to overreact" to the results.
The president's comments on Wednesday about the shutdown coincided with it breaking the previous record length of 35 days set in 2019, during his first term in office.
Mr Trump has continually pointed the finger at politicians from the opposition Democratic Party for the stalemate, which has seen some federal workers go unpaid for weeks and essential government programs paused.
However, polling suggests a majority of Americans blame the Republican politicians and Mr Trump's administration for the situation.
To "reopen" the government, Senate Republicans — despite being in the majority — require several Democrats to back their bills.
Until they do, efforts to reopen the government are stuck in an indefinite cycle of being debated, known as a "filibuster".
Mr Trump has encouraged his party to take a "nuclear option" and attempt to do away with the filibuster laws — something most Republicans have shown little interest in doing, fearing an avalanche of unchecked Democratic reforms whenever their rivals are next in government.
Democrats are, so far, refusing to do that, and have demanded the government reverse a decision to scrap healthcare subsidies before they negotiate on other laws.
The subsidies expired over the weekend, meaning people who use the country's Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare, to purchase health insurance will be quoted higher prices.
The shutdown has affected many aspects of everyday life in the US.
Federally run services, including mail delivery and air-traffic control, are either shut down or being staffed by workers who are not being paid.
Public museums are shut. National parks are not being maintained.
The Department of Agriculture says it has run out of money to pay monthly grocery stipends under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance program, or SNAP, which affects an estimated 42 million people.
